Gloria Steinem, a feminist journalist and women’s rights activist, died on Wednesday at 92 years of age. Born in Toledo, Ohio, in 1934, Steinem was raised in an interfaith family — her father Jewish and mother Protestant. And while she…
Many Americans are moving away from congregations, but not necessarily from religion – movies, plays, art and social media fill the gap
“Emma,” a young Jewish woman who we met in 2019, didn’t belong to a synagogue. She didn’t have a Jewish partner. She didn’t observe Jewish rituals regularly. On most surveys about religion, she would not seem very engaged with Judaism.
Women of the Rosenstrasse protest challenged the Nazi regime for their detained Jewish husbands’ freedom – and won
On the cold evening of Feb. 27, 1943, Charlotte Israel gathered with a small crowd of women on the Rosenstrasse, a narrow street in central Berlin. They were not Jewish, but their husbands were, and the men had just been…
Religion as a Cultural Identity (Part 2): The Surprising Reality of “Cultural Judaism”
Before diving into the graphs, I should note that this is really the second post in a two-part series on religion as a cultural identity. I’d strongly recommend going back and reading the first post to get up to speed on a…
Invoking Torah, Jews are mobilizing against ICE in Minnesota
The Hebrews’ flight from Egypt is on a lot of Jewish minds right now, as the annual cycle of Torah readings has reached the Book of Exodus.
Santa Claus or the ‘red rabbi’? How Christmas lost its taboo for some Jews in Israel.
Decades ago, the notion that a store in predominately Jewish West Jerusalem would conspicuously sell Christmas-themed merchandise would have caused discomfort, perhaps even outrage, especially among Eastern European Jews who throughout history experienced antisemitic attacks timed to the Christmas season.
A kosher community fridge in Chicago’s Jewish suburbs arrives amid rising food insecurity
Just off East Prairie Road in this suburb of Chicago is a sign that says, “Welcome to Hersh’s Fridge.” At the bottom is a line in Aramaic, quoting the Passover Haggadah: “Let all who are hungry come and eat.”
Pope reaffirms dialogue with Jews as he marks 60th anniversary of a key document
Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday marked the 60th anniversary of the Vatican document that revolutionized the Catholic Church’s relations with Jews, reaffirming the commitment to dialogue at a time of rising antisemitism over Israel’s war in Gaza.
As a New Year Begins, a Rabbi Reflects on High Tension Among Jews
Monday evening is the beginning of the High Holy Days for Jews around the world, a 10-day period of repentance and celebration, fasting and feasting. The holidays begin with Rosh Hashana, the celebration of the Jewish New Year.
Judaism Is a Map, Not a GPS
Myths are born, they serve a purpose, and they die. When we reside inside them, we swear by them, we invest in them, we think they precede us, and we think they will survive us. They define us, and they…
A group of observant Jews set out to reclaim their tradition’s focus on justice, mercy amid Gaza war
In a conference room of an Upper West Side synagogue, a group of traditionally observant young Jews gathered last week to engage in an age-old form of rabbinic inquiry to address what they see as the moral crisis in Judaism…
Jew? Not a Jew?
Since its founding, Israel’s effort to define Jewish status—codified in the Law of Return, which determines eligibility for Israeli citizenship—has had profound consequences for Jews inside and outside its borders, making it a reliable pain point between Israel and American…